Conventional floatation garments, such as life preserver vests, life jackets and the like, typically are formed of cloth walls shaped to fit around the wearer's torso. Pockets or wall portions are formed to receive and secure floatation blocks. Although at one time blocks were typically made of cork or cork-like material, today these are conventionally made of foam plastic materials which provide bulk, light weight, and because of relatively low specific gravities, produce good floatation results.
By way of example, a typical so called life jacket or life vest which is of a size and shape to fit around a human torso, may be provided with interior pockets or wall areas which contain one inch thick blocks of foamed polyurethane plastics of the closed cell nature. One conventional type of such material is known by the trademark "Ensolite", a product of Uniroyal, which may be used in about a six pound density for life jacket floatation purposes. The sizes and shapes of the blocks vary, depending upon the design of the life jacket or vest, but essentially the floatation material is a thick, e.g. one inch, pad or block of the appropriate height and width.
The conventional floatation blocks, as for example, those described above, are relatively rigid so that they do not drape well around the human body. Moreover, the most useful forms of plastic for this solid or unitary block are typically of a relatively heavy plastic. That is, lighter weight plastics are available, but typically cannot be used because of problems in forming the thick blocks that are needed for floatation purposes.
Because the available plastic materials that are used for floatation block purposes are relatively rigid, life jackets or vests are relatively uncomfortable to wear, particularly for long periods of time. Particularly, the users of such jackets typically feel confined or restricted in their movements. For example, when used by fishermen, canoeists or boaters or the like, more flexibility if desired, but generally not available in conventional block materials.
Thus, the invention herein is concerned with forming what appears to be a conventional floatation block or pad for use in connection with a floatation garment, such as a conventional life jacket or vest, but which is highly flexible, tends to be less compressible to thereby maintain its maximum floatation volume, and may be made of lighter weight plastics.